Xiaoyue was in the car and didn't look out; she just shook her head.

“We have orders outside, so we’re still holding on. This is your last order. After I take this order, I’m going to close down.”

Xiaoyue and the shop assistant counted the quantity and model, and the shop assistant checked the quality before settling Xiaoyue's bill at sixty-seven taels and five mace of silver.

Xiaoyue received the money, and the young shop assistant saw her out the door. He then put up the signs on the windows one by one. Xiaoyue, being very curious, looked from one end of the street to the other, and sure enough, this was the only shop open.

When Xiaoyue walked back, the clothing store was already closed.

Xiaoyue sighed, climbed off the donkey cart, and said, "Let's find a grain store, buy some grain to take back, and not go out before or after the New Year."

Upon hearing this, Xu Fanyuan also said, "How about I borrow some money from you and take some grain back to the county?"

Xiaoyue took out ten taels of silver from her pocket and handed it to Xu Fanyuan.

Then he said to Gao Yu and Liang Qi, "Do you want to borrow some money to buy some New Year's goods for your families?"

Both of them shook their heads, and Xiaoyue smiled. The donkey cart stopped, and Xiaoyue led Gao Lei and Xu Fanyuan into the grain shop. Xiaoyue saw that millet had risen to ten coins, and then she looked at wheat flour, which was fifty coins per catty. Xiaoyue bought fifty catties of millet, ten catties of millet (millet was also thirty coins per catty), and twenty catties of sorghum, which was the same price as millet.

After leaving the grain store, Xiaoyue went to the tableware store next door and bought two aluminum kettles, a wok for Li Lei and his family, and ten white porcelain bowls.

I bought three aluminum basins of different sizes, a white teapot, and six teacups. The teapot and teacups were a set, but the lid of the teapot had a crack, so I paid 800 coins to buy the set.

After getting on the donkey cart, which passed the market, Xiaoyue got off and bought half a pork belly, vermicelli, and two frozen fish. Combined with the New Year's goods she had prepared for the last market trip, that was about it.

Xiaoyue put the meat into a bag, placed it on the roof of the donkey cart, and tied it with a rope.

After everything was bought, Xiaoyue said to Gao Yu, "Gao Yu, sit on the carriage shaft and point out to Li Lei the academy where your brother is."

Li Lei drove the cart for another half an hour and then left the west gate. The academy was located on Phoenix Mountain in the west of the city. After driving the donkey cart for another quarter of an hour, he arrived at the foot of Phoenix Mountain. There were quite a few carts parked there, so Li Lei parked at the back of the queue.

Gao Yu was also going up the mountain with Xu Fanyuan to find his brother Gao Lei and Hu Banxia at the academy. At this time, Li Lei also jumped off the car, wanting to see what the academy on the mountain looked like, so he followed them up the mountain.

Only Xiaoyue and Liang Qi remained on the donkey cart.

Xiaoyue sat in the car, feigning ignorance.

Seeing that everyone in the carriage had left, Liang Qi lifted the cotton curtain. The other carriages were all horse-drawn carriages, and the carriages were all square, with tassels hanging from the eaves of the roof.

Liang Qi got off the donkey cart, drove the little donkey into the grove, broke off some dry branches from the surrounding area, put them into the stove in small pieces, and lit a fire.

Xiaoyue felt the temperature inside the car rise, and her eyelashes fluttered. Liang Qi then moved closer to Xiaoyue and nudged her with his shoulder.

She said softly, "We don't know how long we'll live, so please don't be angry."

Xiaoyue turned to look at Liang Qi, who was half-opening his eyes and glancing at him, then sat down on the other side of the stool, saying impatiently, "What do I have to be angry about? It's you who's still holding a grudge."

Liang Qi shifted closer to Xiaoyue, reached out a hand to tug at her sleeve, and said with a wronged expression, "What if I disappear one day? Aren't you worried?"

Xiaoyue rolled her eyes and said disdainfully to Liang Qi, "With Uncle Liang and Bai Hongmei worrying, who am I to worry about you?" She deliberately drew out the last part to annoy Liang Qi.

Liang Qi jumped out of the car in anger, and suddenly, he shouted, "Sit still!"

The donkey cart sped into the woods like a madman.

Xiaoyue lifted the cotton curtain and called out, "What happened? Li Lei, Xu Fanyuan, and Gao Yu haven't gotten on the bus yet!"

Liang Qi parked the donkey cart along the path in the woods at the foot of the cliff, picked up a few branches, tied them together, swept the route they had come from, and turned to Xiaoyue, saying, "I'll go take a look. Don't move from here."

Xiaoyue nodded blankly.

Liang Qi leaped onto the trees, not touching the ground, and continued leaping forward from tree to tree.

Xiaoyue lifted the cotton curtain and looked up. Liang Qi crossed a few trees and went straight up the cliff until he could no longer be seen.

I felt panicked, but I couldn't go out to see what was happening outside.

When Liang Qi reached the top of the mountain and climbed to the house built against the cliff, he saw a group of people marching up the mountain from the bottom.

Liang Qi seized this opportunity, leaping over the rooftop and reaching the gatekeeper. He first locked the gate from the inside.

Upon seeing the boy and Liang Qi's actions, the boy was about to shout when Liang Qi chopped him down with a single blow and carefully placed him inside the gatehouse.

Seeing the three people drinking tea inside, he said, "Hurry up! Soldiers have surrounded the academy. They're coming down the mountain from the back; the front is full of people."

Just as Liang Qi led the three of them out, the boy who had asked them to find someone arrived with Gao Lei and Hu Banxia.

Liang Qi knocked out the child who was leading the two of them. At that moment, a door was kicked open at the mountain station. Liang Qi led the group to the roof, and the five of them held hands and came to the roof of the house built on the cliff top.

Everyone's legs trembled. Gao Lei said to Liang Qi, "You should walk by yourself. None of the four of us can get down."

Liang Qi was so anxious that he didn't know what to do, so he said to a few people, "Let's lie on the roof and see what these soldiers want to do."

Several people nodded, and then they lay down on the roof.

The academy gate was quickly kicked open. The academy in Yingkou County was founded by Yuan Bieyun, who had retired due to health reasons and was invited by Prefect Huang from Longcheng. He had a high reputation among the scholars in Longcheng.

Because the emperor favored Consort Sun, and wanted to promote Consort Sun's brother Sun Siming to the rank of Third-Rank Commander, in charge of the military forces within Longcheng, Yuan Bieyun once remonstrated with the emperor to the death and collapsed in the main hall.

Although Yun Bieyun was a seventh-rank official in the Six Departments of Records, he served as an examiner for four consecutive imperial examinations and enjoyed a high reputation among the scholars.

After the group entered the academy, they began to tie up anyone they saw. Before long, more than sixty students with the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the imperial examinations) were tied up in the courtyard, including Yun Bieyun, six teachers, dozens of children, and errand boys.

Gao Yu, with her sharp eyes, recognized the burly man carrying a broadsword who was walking around the servants as Ge Sanlin.